In a single morning, Donald Trump promoted a photo that originated from a neo-Nazi Twitter account and posted a campaign video that mistook Soviets for U.S. military veterans.
Trump’s campaign on Friday shared a Facebook video vowing to reform the Veterans Administration that included stock footage of Russian — not American — former servicemen with medals that bore the communist sickle and hammer symbol.
The campaign replaced the video with a new version that excluded the Russians several hours later.
“In the Veterans Administration, the incompetence is beyond. We will stop that,” Trump says in the video before showing images of Soviet veterans that was taken in Russia in May last year, according to the stock video site that hosts the footage. “We are going to take care of our veterans.”
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not immediately respond when asked why the campaign chose to use foreign soldiers in its advertisement.
It’s not the first time the Republican presidential front-runner has mistaken foreign soldiers with American servicemen. In July, Trump’s campaign produced a promotional image showing soldiers wearing German World War II uniforms instead of American ones.